GETSPLAT

Section: User Commands (1)
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NAME

getsplat - extract and merge spike latencies from multiple traces  

SYNOPSIS

getsplat prmfile1 prmfile2 ... > outputfile  

DESCRIPTION

Getsplat gets spike latencies from two or more traces in a run. The prmfile arguments are the names of analysis(1) parameter files, in which all the necessary parameters have been set. The .prm suffix is added to the names, if not already present.

To use it, you must collect the data you want to analyse as triggered traces. The software will look for the first spike in each triggered sweep on the two (or more) traces you collect.

Next, you must set up an analysis(1) parameter file for each trace you wish to analyse. (Two parameter files are required for X-Y pairs of latencies, because the analysis program can currently handle only one trace at a time for trace spike analyses.) Set the parameters for the "Raw trace spike latencies vs step cycle" (Analysis/Graphs/Interneuron/Latencies), setting the "Spike trace #" to one of the traces you wish to analyse, and all the trace spike parameters appropriately. Since you are not really interested in step cycles, but instead want to get the latencies over the whole run, set the "Cycle W.F. #" to -1. Keep these parameters in one file, then set the "Spike trace #" and the trace spike parameters for the next trace, and keep these parameters in a different file.

Now, you can run "getsplat prmfile1 prmfile2 > outputfile", where prmfile1 and prmfile2 are the names of the two parameter files you kept. (Remember that the parameter file does not necessarily have the same name as the run file; the run file name is one of the parameters stored in the parameter file.) The getsplat program will run the analysis program twice, then merge the two sets of data from the graphs into one file of spike latency pairs. The output consists of an ASCII text file, containing two numbers per line. This format should be suitable for importing into spreadsheet programs or other graphing programs.

The latencies are matched up by the frame trigger times, but these times will not appear in the resulting data output. If any of the trigger times do not match (e.g. if one of the two traces does not have spikes on some of its triggered sweeps), then the program will give you a warning, but will still output the latencies for those that do match.

The program can also be used for three or more traces at once. Just set up a parameter file for each, and give all the parameter file names as arguments to getsplat. It will produce a file with one column of latencies for each trace.  

FILES

*.prm                         analysis parameter files

*.frm                          frame files (for trace readings)

/tmp/gsl*                              temporary files
 

SEE ALSO

analysis(1), cap(1), dsepr(1)  

DIAGNOSTICS

If getsplat runs without error, the only message given is "Analysing prmfile..., which appears before the analysis program is called for each specified file.

If any specified parameter file does not exist, or you don't have read-permission on it, you get the message "Can't open name."

The message "analysis failed!" appears if a fatal error occurred while the analysis program was running. It should be preceded by a message from the analysis program itself.

If the message "Can't create merge file" appears, it means there was a problem with the temporary files.

If the message "Warning - records lost in file merge." appears, it means the frame trigger times do not match for all the traces. This is usually because one of the traces does not have spikes on some of its triggered sweeps. The program will still output the latencies for those that do match.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
FILES
SEE ALSO
DIAGNOSTICS

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 17:58:04 GMT, February 20, 2019
Copyright © G. R. Detillieux, Spinal Cord Research Centre, The University of Manitoba.